I read the Forbes article yesterday but unless I am mistaken the article assumed production of Lithium will remain the same. They say it takes 2-5 years for new Lithium production to come online and I bet those industry saw the demand increasing and have plants coming online within the next couple of years. More importantly I doubt Tesla will be building a Giga Factory without securing the raw materials they need.

Lithium is not the new oil as very little is used in the battery.
However, that has not stopped Western Lithium Mining Company from having a stock price jump today. Probably speculation as they come 'on line' with their mining of Lithium their mine is very close to Reno.

Problem: Currently they mine 'clay' that is used in 'fracking' and horizontal drilling for oil. Will TM use them as they are not 'eco friendly'

Mark K |
04. August 2014

Remember peak oil?

The finance industry likes to provoke fear to prompt churn.

We have much more lithium than we'll ever need.

EVs will never be limited for lack of raw material.

hcwhy |
04. August 2014

It would be terrible if we from "oil wars" to "lithium wars". Somehow, I don't think we will.

Al1 |
04. August 2014

I don't think lithium will become new oil. Once mined it is reusable many times. Oil is not.

Craig Daugherty |
04. August 2014

One of the few things I understood during JB Straubel's keynote address was there is no shortage of lithium.

Biggest lithium reserve is in Wyoming, so I think we're okay unless Dick Cheney decides he wants us to secede from the union.

JPPTM |
04. August 2014

LAst year at the Teslive conference, Elon stated that 'lithium is like the salt in the salad'. You don't need much....Now how that scales to the kind of battery volume he needs/predicts is another question.

hamer |
04. August 2014

Wait a minute. Elon Musk has decided to invest billions in a new factory to produce many more lithium ion batteries and he forgot to check to see if lithium would be available!!!! And all the other executives, financiers, scientists, and business people also forgot to check!!! How incredibly short-sighted of him.

Now, for those cup holders.

AmpedRealtor |
04. August 2014

@ hamer,

Elon figured, if there isn't enough here on Earth then he'll just grab an asteroid.

just an allusion |
04. August 2014

There are 13 million TONS of lithium in the ground so, yeah! There IS enough!!

Tiebreaker |
04. August 2014

230 billion tons of lithium in seawater.

just an allusion |
04. August 2014

Yeah, I omitted the oceans due to the extensive extraction and processing involved but, yeah, we've got plenty!

Jolinar |
04. August 2014

actually there is more lithium in the ground (excluding sea water)...
For example Bolivia has another ~9,000,000 tons of lithium. That is on top of that commonly known 13,000,000 tons :-)